Alarm over the decay of English --
Surprises in the ancestry of Old English --
Not exactly Anglo-Saxon --
Don't forget the Celtic connection --
From insider language to Lingua Franca --
English as easy German --
The Viking conquest of English --
How the words of modern English emerged --
Black English-- the streamlining continues --
Honored conceits of blackboard grammar --
Pronoun fashions come and go --
Wrong then, proper now-- and vice versa --
A procession of accidents and fossils --
The pursuit of logic in language --
Clarity as the logic of language --
20th-century fashions from Strunk & White --
The kinds of grammar you don't hear about --
Linguists uncovering grammar we all use --
Speech versus writing-- different languages --
Speechmaking-- from oratory to plain speaking --
The old and new styles of writing --
Got poetry? Language with spice --
Why texting is misunderstood --
The living past and future of English.